From your description, that's clearly an issue of (in)compatibility between the player and the media. Set-top players have very picky (i.e., bad) drives, compared to PC drives.

You may get better results using the same media on a different recorder or recording it at a lower speed, but the simplest solution is to try different media. In my experience, Maxell and Pioneer DVD-R discs have the best compatibility.

And did the Maxell disc work? Try a (non-white) Maxell or Pioneer disc and see if it plays correctly. If it does, you'll know what you need is different media (you can probably order them over the net). If it doesn't, there may be some problem with your recorder. Also, try a few different players; your player could just be especially picky about which discs it likes.

I used Maxell discs last year and they seemed OK. Once they became hard to get hold of I switched over to Verbatim (Reorder 43207).

The Verbatim's worked reasonably well and as I had a few left over I used them on my new project. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to try the Maxell this time.

Since I first started this thread I've tried something new. I re-flashed the Sony DRX-500UL with the latest firmware (500A_20h) and burnt a new disc using Nero 6.303 in DVD-video mode.

Unfortunately it has made no difference.

I am in communication with Sonic support and they suggest that I nudge the minimum bitrate setting up to 4000 and use a GOP size of 13 with a GOP pattern of IBBPBBPBBP.

My next step now is to re-encode all my material.

Pegasys Inc support also think that it is a compatibilty issue between DVD-R and my DVD driver or that the DVD player is not compatible with DVD-R. They don't believe that anything is wrong with my TMPGEncode settings.

When I do re-encode my material as well as incorporating Sonic support's suggestions I also intend to Enable padding, return the B spoilage value to 20 and also set the VBV buffer size to 0 (although why 0 - default - would be better than the defacto DVD value of 224 I am unsure).

I'm also going to have a go at burning the new MPEG-2 files on three other printable DVD-R discs that I have just sourced; Ritek, Taiyo Yuden and River.

I suspect the changes in the settings won't have any effect whatsoever. The problem is in the reading of the data, not its processing. Your current values are perfectly within DVD spec, and can be decoded by any DVD player. Sonic technical support is know for its reliability: they are nearly always wrong.

I finally tracked down the source of the problem and it did turn out to be the media, although there is a slight twist to the story.

What baffled me is how the same media from the same stock that I had used on a previous project without problem suddenly started causing the stuttering and jumping.

The evidence did point towards the media but the only difference that I could see between the two projects was the parameters used in the MPEG-2 encoding.

Late Friday I created another test disc that contained a selection of encoded files with different MPEG values, mainly GOP related.

When I played the disc it still stuttered on each of the sections. This finally convinced me that the problem was not MPEG related.

I've certainly learnt a lot more about MPEG-2 and DVD authoring in the past seven days. I've even discovered that ReelDVD CAN accept open GOP MPEG files despite the manual saying that closed GOP's are required. However Sonic Technical Support do recommended that open GOP's are not used in DVD's.

Saturday morning I decided to watch my new test DVD again. This time the disc played perfectly!

It was then that I realised what the difference had been all along. Heat!! In the last project I had only played the DVD's on a cold system.

The DVD player and Amp had been switched off overnight and in the morning they were cold.

When the amp is left on all day, like it usually is, the heat rises making the DVD player on top of the amp hot. The DVD player also generates a lot of heat when it is switched on but that is a separate cause for concern.

After 5 minutes of playing the heat built up and the same problem appeared.

The DVD-R's I had been using were the crazy looking Verbatim (Reorder 43207) which have the printable area nearly all the way into the centre of the disc.

Towards the hub of the disc, in the printable area, the name 'Verbatim' and 'DVD-R 2x' is etched in. I think this may cause the disc to run in an eccentric manner or alter the aerodynamics of the disc. It would appear that heat exasperates the condition.

The effect is similar to sticking Neato CD labels on a DVD. Some players, mine included, have trouble playing afterwards because the disc is imbalanced and / or the aerodynamics change.

There is also another version of these Verbatim discs with a slightly different reorder number that don't have the printable area going nearly all the way into the centre. The manufacturer ID is the same MCC 00RG200. This disc also stuttered but nowhere as badly as its sibling.

I tried three other brand of discs, those with Manufacturer ID's TYG01, RITEKG04 & PRODISCG01. They all played perfectly, even when the system was hot.

Next step is to see how they each play when printed on. Then it's time to move the DVD player

It was then that I realised what the difference had been all along. Heat!! In the last project I had only played the DVD's on a cold system.

Yes, this is quite common. If a player just barely manages to focus the laser when it's cold, it's likely to produce a lot of errors when it's hot. Same thing used to happen with floppy disks, BTW.

BF wrote:

Towards the hub of the disc, in the printable area, the name 'Verbatim' and 'DVD-R 2x' is etched in. I think this may cause the disc to run in an eccentric manner or alter the aerodynamics of the disc.

I don't think video DVDs spin fast enough for calibration to be an issue (unless they're very miscalibrated). It can be an issue when reading them in DVD-ROM drives, though (which spin the discs much faster), but the drive should be able to detect the problem and switch to a lower speed automatically.

BF wrote:

The effect is similar to sticking Neato CD labels on a DVD. Some players, mine included, have trouble playing afterwards because the disc is imbalanced and / or the aerodynamics change.

If the label isn't properly centered, yes, it can cause problems. It will also make the disc a lot less able to dissipate the heat. I've found that Lorenz-Bell shiny labels work quite well (at least on my players).

I don't know if Maxell make printable DVDs, but I'm pretty sure Pioneer do. If you manage to get them, give them a try. I expect they'll be as good as regular Pioneer DVD-Rs.

The Maxell printable DVD's can be ordered from Protape in London. I use a combination of these & the Verbatim discs, admittedly the Maxells for choice.
One thing with using WORM media in settop players, try to ensure that your total bitrate does not exceed 7MB/sec if you are having read issues.
Some settop players with poor WORM implementation seem happier at 7 or lower, despite what the specs actually say. Remember the specs are for manufactured discs, not writeables.